


Red Eyes and Cyan Runes -- ON HIATUS

by Ne0n_Lights



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hate to Love, Magic, POV Multiple, Possessive Sans (Undertale), Protective Sans (Undertale), Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader Needs a Hug, Reader is hurt, Sans (Undertale) Needs a Hug, cursing, magic runes, mercenary, reader has magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27168602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ne0n_Lights/pseuds/Ne0n_Lights
Summary: ON HIATUS! --In this world where there were still some human magicians left, including yourself, you were a mercenary. A member of the Founders who decided to let the monsters come out of Mt. Ebott so long as those possessing magical capabilities joined a newly created monster sub-section of their ranks. This meant working with them, and while you weren't completely opposed to that, there was one skeleton that decided it was rather fun to get on your nerves.ON HIATUS! --
Relationships: Echotale Sans/Reader, Gaster!Sans & Reader, Gaster!Sans/Reader, Sans (Undertale) & Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Original Female Character(s), Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	1. You Had One Job

**Author's Note:**

> This was a sudden idea I had and I decided to just roll with it to see where it goes. I hope you guys enjoy it! :)

You were tired. So very tired.

You were on top of a tall building that overlooked the rest of the city. This sad utterly useless city.

You were done with it. 

You sighed hoping to see nothing when you turned on your phone. To your dismay, there was a message with an address, a photo, and a name. 

“Fuckin hell.”

The long trench coat you had stolen from another job earlier that week swayed in the wind. The chill evening air didn’t bother you, as it was actually rather comforting. In an undeniably cheesy way, it made you feel something. 

A sick twisted laugh erupted from your throat and you screamed to the moon, knowing that no one could hear your cries of agony up here.

Once your tantrum was over, you looked at the horizon. All the various lights that illuminated different parts of this city and searched for the general area that the address belonged to. You found it, and then took a step closer to the edge of the building so you were almost leaning over it. 

“It never ends.”

You stepped off. 

The wind was chilling as you were falling, and you realized, to your surprise, you were almost smiling. This was the only fun part. 

As the ground was approaching you swirled your hand and your signature brightly colored cyan magic runes circled your wrist. You drew a symbol in the air and pushed it forward. Then a summoned magic circle appeared below your feet and you leaped off of it. 

You were flying through the air as you jumped from one circle to the next, gaining more and more speed each time. It was exhilarating. But this small moment of joy was short-lived as you made it to the sent address.

You were on top of the building opposite of the one the target was in and scanned the windows to see if you could spot them. Sure enough, there he was, in the apartment at the top left of the building. 

It would be easy to take him out from here, but your organization, The Founders, wanted some information from this businessman. So you were obligated to not get rid of him just yet. 

You continued to watch the man, to see when was possibly the best time and the best way to get in there without completely alarming him. The man passed by the window again and then suddenly walked back with his hands up. This was odd and then you saw what was causing the man to back up in a panic. A tall skeleton wearing a black cropped jacket coat that was the signature of one monster in particular, was walking towards the man. 

It was unclear to you as to why he was here, but you felt that if you didn’t step in now, your job wasn’t going to go smoothly.

“Fuck,” you huffed under your breath.

Your runes formed around your wrists again and you summoned the same magic circle that let you leap to the emergency escape balcony. Unlike some others in your organization, you had manners. Then you forced the window open as you stepped in… you had slightly better manners.

Once you were in you saw the skeleton corning the man at the other end of the room. At stayed in place, and you knew that he knew you were there.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” 

At the intoxicating sound of your voice, the tall skeleton turned around. He had a large smirk on his face and his red eyes locked onto yours. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette as he moved to lean against the wall. 

With a small snap, his index finger had a small flame above it that he used to light his vice. You could see the holes in the palms of his large bone hands and the signature scars on his skull: two vertical scars where one went up from his eye and the other went down from the other eye. 

“Same as you, darling. Getting a job done.” His voice was deep and thick, and you hated the way it made your skin crawl. There was a husky quality to it that irked you and made you want to leave. However, you knew you couldn’t so you walked over to him and his tall lean frame would have been intimidating if you were not more focused on how annoyed you were with this skeleton. 

“That’s never the case. The Founders would never send two for one simple job.”

“Who said it was the Founders? I could have private contractors.” He took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke upwards so it wasn’t in your face. He knew you weren’t a fan of the fumes. 

“Sans.” The skeleton’s eyes were locked back on you, and he had been waiting to hear you say his name since he heard you subtly break-in. 

You were about to continue when the man quivering in the corner of the room started shuffling to try and get away but weren’t about to let that happen. With runes swirled around your wrist again and with a small flick of your hand, a large magic circle blocked his past. You flicked your wrist once more and the man was pushed back into the corner by the circle. 

There was a look of pure panic and terror in the man’s eyes as he looked from the skeleton to you. He started flailing as the circle continued to push him into the corner, beginning to squeeze him.

The businessman started rambling, asking if you wanted money or fame. Anything as he began pleading for his life. None of those things meant anything to you. You shook your head at each inquiry and Sans started laughing which really ticked the man off.

“Then what the fuck do you want bitch?!” This set off Sans more than you, as his stare immediately became cold. He bent down and grabbed the man’s hair, making him look the skeleton dead in the eyes.

“What did you say?” Sans’ red eyes started to glow and the man gulped. 

“Noth--”

“Wanna run that by me again? Huh?” His voice grew dark and cracked.

This behavior was nothing new to you, but it annoyed you as it never got anything done. However, you didn’t stop Sans, instead just shifted your weight on your feet, waiting. 

“I-uh-I said-nothing! Nothing!” The answer didn’t satisfy Sans as he bashed the man’s head into the ground. Blood streamed down his nose as Sans forced his head back up, bringing it closer than before.

“What did you call her?” 

“I sa--” Before the man even had time to finish, Sans had smacked his head to the ground again. His movements were fast and he got a few more bashes in before he felt your magic on his wrist, stopping him. 

Sans let go of the man’s head, and you released your hold of him. “Was that necessary?” You took a step closer, sighing in annoyance. You had no idea what to do about this monster.

“I think so.” He was still leaning over the body and took another drag of his cigarette as he stood up to his full height and turned to face you. Sans smirked at you, and as always, was admiring the way you looked. He couldn’t get enough of you and he knew that this was your job, but he couldn’t help from inserting himself as he was thrilled with the attention you gave him. Even if you were annoyed, he didn’t care, so long as you were thinking about him. 

Sans blew the smoke away from you then turned to check you out. Goodness, you were something else. You had his attention from the first moment he saw you after climbing out of Mt. Ebott with the rest of his peers. His eyes saw no one but you, and his desire for you was immeasurable. Then he noticed that something about your appearance was new.

“New coat?” You didn’t say anything, just stared daggers at him.

Then you looked at the body of the man behind him and kneeled to check his pulse. It was still there but it was faint. You could not believe that this was happening right now. You just wanted this job to go smoothly. Hopefully, you could just drop off the body to your higher-ups and they could do what they wanted. 

You stood back up, then turned back to Sans. “The Founders will not be happy with this.”

“You mean, your people. Mine ain’t got nothin to do with this.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Make me.” He had stepped closer to you. Sans was hardly a foot away from you, and for him the closeness was intoxicating. However, you hated that you had to look up to meet this skeleton’s dark gaze, but the look in your eyes was just as deadly.

You knew what he was trying to do. Rile a response out of you that would make you slip up so he would have an excuse to do… something. Deep inside you knew what he wanted, but you were never gonna give it to him. Ever.

“Your attempts are pathetic.”

“Are they? They seem to be getting your attention.” He took a drag of his cigarette and blew smoke out of his naval cavity. Sick of his annoyingly huge ego, you stood on your toes to bite the cigarette out of his mouth. With the amount of magic you had coursing through your veins, your tongue wasn’t, or rather couldn’t be, burned. 

You took it out of his mouth and then flipped it in your fingers before taking a drag yourself, blowing the smoke in his face. 

_Fuck…_ Sans was too turned on to think. _Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me…_ were the only thoughts bouncing at the speed of light in his head. You were too much for him. The only person in this city that wasn’t scared of him and could possibly beat him in a fight. 

“This tastes like shit.”

“Yet you still smoke it.”

You took another drag and blew it in his face again, before turning around to look at the knocked out businessman. 

“Now I gotta deal with your shit.” 

You were about to lean down when you felt Sans' chest against your back. You weren’t frozen, but you stayed still curious as to what he could possibly be planning.

Sans knew he could take you one-on-one when you were this pissed, but he decided that he would rather have some fun. Even though your back was clothed, he could feel your body heat, and oh how he desired to trap you in his arms and whisper the dirty things he only let himself say in his fantasies of you. 

Instead, he opted to bring his face to your ear and whisper, “but I know you like it.”

With this assumption, the final straw was broken and you spun around to slap Sans, but he caught your wrist with ease. You were about to summon your magic when the skeleton did something he had never done before. He took your hand and put it against his boney cheek, and turned his face to kiss your palm. 

In all the time you have known and loathed Sans, he had never done this before. Yes, he dropped sexual comments and innuendos a lot, but this was the first time he showed any kind of physical affection. 

Sans knew he was taking a risk, but a part of him was done hiding his desire for you. He wanted to unleash the beast within him and devour you until you couldn’t take any more of him. To fill you up completely until you were screaming his name. Sans has had enough fantasies and dreams to last more than any of his lifetimes, and he finally wanted it to be a reality.

He could change how you feel, he knew that. You had even changed a bit from when you first met. Now you actually looked him in his eyes and didn’t summon any daggers to make him back up when he got close to you. Sans considered it progress, but he was growing impatient. 

You weren’t moving your hand away, as you were still in shock, so Sans continued. He kept holding your hand and then started to kiss each of your knuckles. He was savoring this moment and he realized just how small your hands were compared to his. With your height difference, he knew he could fully surround and swallow you up. Take you away and hide you from the rest of the world, and he found himself tempted. 

You, on the other hand, didn’t know how to feel. The skeleton you absolutely hated and annoyed you to death was showing an affectionate side. _What the fuck is he planning?_

Before any emotions could arise within you, you crushed them, burying them down, and pulled your hand away.

“In your dreams.”

“But I want to make them real.”

His eyes were glazed over and there was something telling you that if you stayed, it would mean danger. You knew that normally you could take him, but with how off you were starting to feel, you doubt it would be easy and you weren’t ready to spend that effort when you just wanted to go home now. 

You knew you had to show power, so you opted to try and scare Sans a little. Both of your wrists were surrounded by the runes and with a snap, over a dozen translucent cyan-colored daggers hovered in the air, all locked on Sans.

He shifted his weight, unfazed by your display, which pissed you off even more, but he put his hands up a bit in surrender. 

“No need for that darling. I’ll comply.”

“So you say.” The daggers were still locked on him. If he moved any closer you would let them fly… but you didn’t want it to come to that. _Shut up!_

The cyan weapons kept hovering as you turned around to look at what had originally brought you here, the businessman. You hadn’t bothered remembering his name, but you knew you had to drop him off. With a flick of your wrist, a circle appeared underneath the man and--

“You know, darling, I know a shortcut.” The drawl in his voice as he said ‘darling’ irked you to your very core. You hated that you knew exactly what he was talking about, and while you had seen him perform this “shortcut” many times, you had never experienced it. It was also true that your circles weren’t the most efficient for transportation if it wasn’t just you. Plus the man needed medical attention

The daggers moved out of your way as you walked over to him. “Just this once.” He leaned down a bit and you saw the red of Sans’ eyes glowed brighter as his smirk also grew even more. You took the last drag of the cigarette you had stolen and blew the smoke into his face, and he inhaled the second-hand smoke.

Growing impatient, you flicked your head in the unconscious man’s direction but Sans eyed all the daggers that surrounded him. 

“You can move. But anything off--” you snapped and the daggers moved an inch closer to Sans. You knew he got the picture.

The threats you were making made Sans giddy and he knew he would never get tired of seeing that deadly look in your eyes. He felt a heat rise within him and it translated into a small blush of blue appearing on his face. 

He moved past you, making sure to gently brush past your shoulder as he hungered for any kind of contact with you. San’s picked the man up with ease and threw him over his shoulder. Then he turned back around to face you and took a step closer and as he did the daggers moved in closer to him. Sans took a step back and admired the fire in your eyes.

“Not a step closer. Use your short cut,” you huffed in pure annoyance.

Sans chuckled and the sound sent a shiver down your spine. “My dear, I have to be touching you for this to work.” _You’ll have to let me touch you._

There was a sheer moment of panic within you, and you were about to say how you would meet him there when Sans continued, “now how would it look to your precious Founders if I showed up with this before you did?”

You absolutely, with every fiber of your being hated that Sans had a point. This was your job. It was simply and still managed to get fucked up because of this fucking skeleton. 

At this point, you were too pissed off to care and you just wanted to go to bed. _Fuck it. Fuck it all._

You snapped your fingers and all but one dagger, that was floating above his skull, disappeared. 

You walked over to him and again were annoyed with your height difference as you looked up at him. 

Sans was delighted this was happening, but he was still slightly wary of the dagger ready to plunge into his skull. However, his excitement ruled out his worry as you stepped closer and closer to him. Sans wished he wasn’t carrying this human on his shoulder, but he would have to deal with it.

You were so close to him, but Sans didn’t move, he let you take the final step towards him before he lifted the arm that wasn’t holding the human on his shoulder to hover at your side. He didn’t touch you, even though every part of him craved to. 

You took the last step and reluctantly, put a hand on the soft white turtleneck that was covering his chest… he was warm. This surprised you but you didn’t show it. Then you felt Sans hand reach around your waist and pull you closer so you were fully pressed against his chest. You were about to protest when you told and reminded yourself that it was only for a moment, as it was so you could get to bed faster.

The feeling of holding you, it was nearly enough to make Sans forget about bringing you to the Founder’s headquarters and to his apartment where he could treat you to a night of euphoria. _She would be screaming my name_. 

However, Sans summoned every ounce of willpower within him and only pulled you a bit closer to him. 

Then he leaned down and whispered, in that deep hypnotic voice of his, “now hold on tight ____.” He said your name, in a voice so husky and glazed you were convinced you had imagined it. Then the world disappeared from your eyes and you instinctually gripped onto Sans tighter as you felt plunged into a void.


	2. Shortcut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shortcuts are terrible, but Sans hopes you will take more of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments and all the kudos! They mean the world to me! And without ado, I give you, chapter two!

Suddenly you were in a void of darkness, and just as quickly, you were out. Then you let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

The shortcut really took it out of you and Sans noticed as he looked down to see you breathing heavily. Your shoulders moving up and down with every breath. Your grip on his shirt was still tight as you could feel yourself losing balance, but Sans made sure his arm around your waist was supporting you.

“You alright darling?” His voice snapped you back to reality and you immediately pushed yourself away. Big mistake.

_ Oh shit! _

The world was swirling around you and you stumbled backwards from the force you just exerted. Sans immediately lurched forward and pulled you into his chest to steady you. Every part of you wanted to retaliate, but to your great annoyance, having his hand on your back to steady and hold you in place was helping with your episode of major vertigo.

“It’s alright. The first is always the worst. It takes some getting used to.” His thumb rubbed small circles into your back, and it felt… nice.  _ No! _

You put your hand back on his chest and pushed just enough to give yourself space to slowly shake your head. His grip loosened enough to accommodate but was still tight enough to brace you.

“That… was fuckin awful. I am… never doing that again.”

A smirk you didn’t see formed on Sans face, and he lowered his head to whisper in your ear, “I doubt that my dear.”

With as much force as you could muster in your current state, which was hardly any, you punched him in the chest. Sans felt the blow but it did nothing to him. 

“Fuck off.”

“Never.” It was a soft whisper that sounded like it promised so much…

_ No!...  _

You wished you could do more, but as it were, you were completely incapacitated at the moment.  _ Fuck!  _ The world was still slightly spinning, although it was less than before, but what you hated the most was that you had to lean on Sans. It looked like there was nothing else around to hold you and you felt that if you looked or leaned down, you would feel even worse. So you fumed in hatred as it took you these few moments to fully recover.

Meanwhile Sans was relishing this moment. You were holding and gripping onto him and perhaps it wasn’t in the context he wanted, but he was ecstatic all the same. He still had this fucking human on his shoulder but it didn’t fully get in the way of holding you. Even through your thick coat, he could feel your warmth. You were against his chest and he saw how easily he could envelop your small frame as he was a full head taller.

He so badly wanted to kiss the top of your head…  _ I could… she would never know. _

You were still gripping his shirt, trying to regulating your breathing and Sans saw that this was his chance. He slowly lowered his skull and oh so lightly touched the top of your head with, what were technically, his lips. It wasn’t really a kiss, but the gesture behind it had the same meaning. You didn’t seem to notice, so he let his skull hover slightly above yours. 

You felt something on the top of your head, but you barely registered whatever it was as you were purely focussed on getting the world to be still again. Sans was still holding you steady as you breathed deeply and after a few moments, you finally felt your head start to straighten out.  _ Fucking finally. _

Then you pushed away from Sans whose hand lingered around your waist a moment longer before you swatted it away. You blinked and slowly looked around to get your bearings.

You saw that you were in the alleyway just across from the tall yellow illuminated building that was marked as one of the Founders’ establishments. 

Without a word, you put your hands in your pockets and then looked to Sans as you gestured for him to walk behind you. He grinned and followed very closely behind.

Even though it was the dead of night, the building was still brightly lit and as you walked in you were greeted by the man at the main desk. “Good evening. Accepting or reporting a completion?”

You looked incredulously at the man. “What do you think?” As if on cue, Sans placed the body of the businessman on the table. The secretary didn’t even bat an eye as you stated, “the man needs medical attention.”

“May I ask why?”

Before you could respond, Sans did for you, “fucker had no manners.”

Then Sans reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette, and with a small snap, it was lit.

“Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to put that out.”

Sans looked at the man and his eyelights grew dark as he took a drag and blew it aggressively in the man’s face.

The secretary coughed and looked too tired to deal with Sans' attitude so he didn’t bother pushing the matter further. Instead, he went back to examining the body while you were starting to become impatient.

_ I just want to go home. _

“Now who requested it or what was--”

Before the man could finish, you gave him everything he needed “requested by Mr. Xander Vance as ‘seek and pick-up.’ On grounds that this man is smuggling political-related information.” The man looked up at you, and looked like he was about to ask another question so you kept going. “Nothing else was mentioned. Mr. Vance requested he be alive. Need anything else?”

He was now furiously writing down everything you had told him, and then he looked up from his paper to ask you one more thing, “name and ID please.”

_ You gotta be fucking kidding me. _

“Really?”

“It’s protocol.”

_ Fuck…  _

“____ ______. ID #-##-###.”

You could see the man’s eyes grow wide in surprise as you gave your name and he did everything he could to immediately recover. “Forgive me, miss! I was unaware you were still working these types of jobs. Your name isn’t on our main rosters or check-ins, I could change that and add you--”

“No.” Your tone was so cold, it cut through the air like glass.

“No?...” 

“No one aside from Mr. Vance needs to know I was here.”

You looked the man dead in the eyes, and he gulped as he nodded his head. He was flustered as he stammered out, “that’s all I need then miss. Have a good evening.”

Turning on your heels, you walked through the lobby and then breathed in the cool evening air as you stepped outside. You closed your eyes and tilted your head up. Taking a moment to yourself before you felt Sans’ presence at the back of your shoulder. 

You opened your eyes and admired the moon. Then you saw the trail of smoke from his cigarette flying into the sky. 

Even though you couldn’t see Sans’ face, you could feel his gaze upon you and you could feel something tiny grow the faintest bit or warmth within you. To combat and put out whatever that was, you said, “fuck you.” 

“My dear, I really wish you would.” You heard him take a drag from his cigarette.

You were ready to turn about and threaten him, but you felt a sudden wave of exhaustion hit you and you weren’t ready to prolong this interaction. His comment wasn’t anything new. All it did was get on your nerves, and at this point, you were just too tired to care. 

From where Sans was standing, he could admire your form. You stood tall as you gazed up at the moon. For a moment Sans let himself imagine that he was behind you, holding you against his chest as he slowly bent down to kiss your neck. He was so incredibly tempted to act upon it until your sweet voice broke the silence and his fantasy. 

“I’m too tired to deal with your shit tonight.” 

Before you did anything, Sans put his hand out in front of you and leaned his head down, so you could see him in your periphery. You turned to him and he could see the marks of exhaustion around your eyes. He was about to wrap his arms around you and hold you close so you could just fade away and sleep. He would take care of you… but he didn’t. Sans painfully held himself back and instead offered, “would you like to take a shortcut.”

“Fuck that.” You pushed his hand away and took a few steps forward to gain some distance before you turned around to face him. Then the runes swirled around your ankles and wrists as a magic circle appeared on the ground. 

A smirk grew on Sans’ face as he took another drag of the nearly finished cigarette and held his hands up in a slight surrender. “Perhaps another evening then, my dear.” Sans winked as he dipped his head in a small bow.

“Fuck no.”

Then you leaped into the air and were gone. You jumped from one building to the next, using a combination of your circles and boosted jumps. The wind was chilly, but you didn’t mind as you ran and leaped from one rooftop to another. Somehow this felt… nice, and you let yourself feel this for just the few short moments you had while doing this. Again, you almost felt a corner of your lip turn up into a smile.

You kept leaping from one roof to the next and it didn’t take you too long to get back to your small apartment on the edge of the city. It was in the relatively quiet part as it wasn’t near the downtown district. 

Once you landed on the roof of the apartment complex, you walked to the side of the building to get to the fire escape balcony that was by your window. You never locked it when you were out, so with a small flick of your wrist, a rune appeared on the glass and the window moved up as you walked in. 

The small apartment was cool, perhaps chilly if you bothered to care what the actual temperature was. The window automatically closed behind you and glowed an extra moment to show that it was securely locked. Then you immediately went to your room where you flopped onto your bed. It wasn’t until this moment you felt the soreness in all your muscles as you finally relaxed as you closed your eyes. 

_ I am so tired… _

That was all you felt, exhaustion. You didn’t even bother to take off your trench coat, just your shoes. As you lay in bed, not sure if you were comfortable or cold, your mind slowly drifted to the events of that evening, and more specifically to Sans.

Your eyes immediately shot open and you felt enraged by his attitude. He was so smug and had such a large ego that it annoyed you to pieces. No matter where you were he was always there.With his comments that would sometimes build something within you that you would have to bury back down.

_ … I hate him…  _

…

Then a small thought crept into your head…  _ is my hate… justified?... _

_ YES. _

The previous thought was immediately shot down as you remembered that it was for a purpose. You had to hate something. It was the easiest way to help keep everything buried, to keep all your feelings buried and kept in a void. Sans was the easiest target for your hate because he was always there, marking remarks, looking at you and just recently… touching you… it felt--

_ NO. _

You immediately banished this thought and feeling within you.

_ … Yes… I hate him. _

As you continued to solidify the thought in your head, you decided that perhaps you should make the effort to make yourself comfortable tonight. So you undressed, and put all your clothes to the side. As you reached into the closet, you caught yourself in the mirror and slowly turned so you could see more of your back.

You saw all the runic tattoos that were scarred all around your upper body as they faintly glowed the same cyan color as your magic. They were of varying sizes as some looped around your arms, another large set went down your spine and some small arrangements swirled around other parts of your back. 

These were seals, to keep your emotions, and therefore magic in check. 

This was your price for your life. 

Being devoid of nearly all emotion and using seals to maintain that. If you kept everything buried, more specifically, if you kept your soul buried, it was ensured that your power would be kept in check…  _ and nothing like that would ever happen again…  _

This was all in an effort In order to keep your promise and therefore your life, and you found that hating Sans helped maintain that. Hating him made burying everything easier. So you would continue…

…  _ but… _

…  _ something… was… changing…? _

You weren’t sure what it was, but there was the tiniest flicker of what felt like… a warmth growing deep inside of you.

_ No. _

Whatever it was, you quickly buried it.

You sighed and then slowly traced the runes you could see on your shoulder. They didn’t hurt anymore, but you can remember the terribly burning feeling you had then they were engraved upon your skin. They always glowed a faint cyan, but it was never enough that it could be seen through your clothes. This was also why you always wore long sleeves and your thick coat. You didn’t want or need anyone else to see this. Your name was already enough for people to know who you were. 

After a few moments of tracing and looking at all the runes, you finally put on some light pieces of clothing and went to your bed. With a snap, the lights were off, and for a while, you just laid in your bed. 

You breathed deeply and let your body relax so you could hopefully sleep easier tonight. Most of the time, it was quite difficult for you to fall asleep, but tonight, you felt ready to drift away. 

Usually, you dreamed of nothing, just a void but tonight… you dreamed of a small fire, an ember rather and within the darkness, there was the faintest red glow. It wasn’t threatening, there was just a faint red that would pulse in this dark empty space. You knew that you had to extinguish this ember. It’s what you're supposed to do, but this was a dream, and perhaps here… it was alright to indulge yourself. 

So tonight, amongst the darkness, you cradled this small ember. You held it to your chest and found comfort in this tiny flame. For once, you didn’t feel alone in this void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're enjoying it so far, and there's more that's coming! <3


End file.
